Good Monday! First of all, in case you missed it, thanks to Annette from Austintown for this great shot of the Moon and Venus last night: The sky was clear last evening for this celestial show, but clouds will thicken today. A weak system is diving southeast and may just clip the WFMJ viewing area this evening. Mid-morning radar: Here’s the simulated radar at 9pm from the HRRR model: Some of the snow on the northern side of this may evaporate before reaching the ground (“virga”). Especially south of 224, there may be a coating of snow this evening.

Temperatures will stay on the cold side through tonight. Tuesday will be a little more seasonable. On Wednesday, a warm front will cross the region in the morning, with some showers accompanying it. After that, it’s off to the races! Temperatures will warm up quickly on a southwest wind. The warmth surging north: Highs locally can exceed 60 in some spots: Mainly late in the day and at night, there may be some thunderstorms across the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys. Some could even turn strong or severe in the yellow area:Around the Valley, I doubt there is any thunder but it cannot totally be ruled out.

It’s March, a month that can bring wild swings. After a cold start to the week and a balmy midweek period, you guessed it…it’s back to the cold stuf late in the week. In fact, as the cold air arrives, we can see snow showers Thursday evening through Friday. Here’s the map Thursday evening:

Check out the cold air charging east behind that front:

Highs Friday will probably be no higher than the mid 30s:

The overall pattern as we head into the last part of March and the first handful of days of April is a cool one. Remember, average highs are climbing quickly at this time of the year. By the first week of April, average highs are in the lower 50s.

BUT! Some good news, perhaps. There has been a trend on the long-range models toward a warm pattern for much of the rest of April. The Climate Forecast System (CFS) has a lot of orange across the country for April: Let’s hope it has the right idea!